The $19 Strawberry That Went Viral. The Egg Prices Everyone’s Talking About. An Expert Explains Why

To unpack the psychology behind these reactions, we turned to neuroeconomist Uma Karmarkar, an associate professor with a joint appointment at UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management and School of Global Policy and Strategy. Karmarkar holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA and a second Ph.D. in consumer behavior from Stanford, and her research draws from psychology, marketing and neuroscience to understand what drives economic behavior. Here’s what she had to say:

The $19 Erewhon strawberry from Kyoto, Japan, went viral this spring, stirring conversation about extravagance and inequality. Why do ultra-premium grocery items trigger such strong reactions—especially during times of economic strain?

Grocery prices in particular can spark strong reactions for a number of reasons. Food is a universal purchase as well as a necessity. In the U.S., buying strawberries by the box (for less money) is a relatable—if not accessible—activity for a wide swath of people.

Consider this: The berry will be gone in seconds or minutes from a few short bites! It’s hard to think that only one strawberry at that price could offer a meaningful utilitarian value—like satisfying hunger. It might also be hard to imagine a single $19 strawberry could offer significantly more hedonic value, like the pleasure of savoring the taste over time, than a whole box.

So what else might it offer? Well, perhaps the buyer is enjoying the luxury of the impracticality, inaccessibility or extravagance itself. But particularly in times of economic strain, when some people are struggling to feed their families, those reasons for spending money probably feel like a very “let them eat cake” type of attitude.

Beyond the headline-grabbing prices of luxury items, it’s often the rising cost of everyday staples, like eggs, that resonates most deeply. Why do price increases for familiar, frequently purchased items tend to draw so much attention, and why do they feel like a more immediate signal of economic pressure than other rising costs?

If we start with the basics, food is one of the key human needs, and food security is an important source of psychological security. Increases in the price of food can signal threats to our own safety as well as our ability to take care of loved ones like children.

Grocery prices are a frequent and familiar cost that people understand in concrete terms. For example, a person might not notice if the cost of a pair of sunglasses goes up by a few dollars since the last time they bought a pair. But people encounter grocery price information on a more regular schedule, so their awareness of what something “should” cost means they’re more sensitive to when this changes. Put another way, an increase in the price of eggs is more translatable into its practical impact than broad economic metrics, particularly for people who have to stick to a budget.

What’s going on psychologically when we experience “grocery sticker shock,” and why does it seem to linger?

Sticker shock here comes from a meaningful difference between the price that we expected to see and the price we’re being charged. These types of differences from our expectations can be described as “prediction errors” and they send psychological (and neural!) signals that we need to be paying attention and updating our understanding of the situation because something in it has changed.

It may not be that grocery sticker shock is intrinsically more likely to linger than sticker shock for other types of shopping. If it has more lasting effects, that may again be because it’s such a frequent purchase. Eggs are a staple food and a common ingredient for most diets in the United States (excepting vegans, of course). So it’s easy for egg prices to become a symbol of economic worries that is understood by a wide range of people. While an expense like a car purchase may not be relevant to every adult right now, but everyone eats, and most people can understand the financial impact they’ll suffer not only now but every week going forward in a change in the price of eggs.

Why are some people turning to do-it-yourself (DIY) food trends—like raising chickens or baking bread—as a response to rising grocery costs?

One reason may be to feel more in control of the situation. We can’t really do anything about what things cost at the grocery store. That’s not just frustrating, it can also make us feel helpless. DIY means additional effort, but it also means having control over the process and reducing the feeling of being forced to rely on others. While it may or may not save money in the long run, the overall benefit of confidence in one’s ability to address one’s own problems (or take care of oneself) can be quite valuable.

This is particularly true for interactions with companies that have lost consumer trust. If the consumer feels they are being harmed by paying too much for necessities like food while a company maintains or even grows profits, DIY can help them feel less powerless. It's also notable that consumer advice to “cut back” when firms continue to profit can raise perceptions of unfairness by shifting the burden of economic hardship on to consumers.

Do reactions to grocery prices sometimes reflect broader concerns about the economy—beyond just the price itself? Can items like eggs become emotional stand-ins for bigger worries about financial security or the future?

Worries about the price of eggs can certainly be stand-ins for macro concerns about the economy in general. It’s reasonable for concrete evidence about expenses like this to anchor a general anxiety about stability in the markets and to cause people to raise questions about how local, state and national institutions are (or are not) involved.